BY JEFF WOOD – For Whatcom Preps
BELLINGHAM – It was the second consecutive game for the Squalicum Storm at Civic Stadium on Thursday evening, this one on the home side after being the “visiting” team for their win over Sehome last weekend. The Anacortes Seahawks brought their strong returning squad up to Bellingham and looked like they are again a top 2A team, controlling the game from the start and winning 49-0.
Squalicum’s defense seemed to stop the Seahawks on the first drive as a fourth-and-3 faced Anacortes on their own 40-yard line. However, WSU bound signal caller Ryan Harrington used a hard count to draw a Storm defender offside giving the Seahawks a first down. Harrington later connected on a 35-yard pass to give Anacortes a 7-0 just two minutes into the game.
Turnovers and penalties hampered Squalicum’s offense throughout the first half, and they could not find much room with their new running attack. The Seahawks scored twice more to extend the lead to 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
A few positive runs netted Squalicum a first down but they could not sustain their second quarter drive and were forced to punt. Anacortes had a balanced attack starting from its own 21-yard line that went into Storm territory, but the Squalicum defense then forced two incompletions and stuffed a Harrington run.
Alex Ibarra broke on an Anacortes receivers’ route and broke up a pass keying the Storm getting the ball back.
A pair of delay of game penalties doomed the subsequent Squalicum possession and the Storm was forced to punt. Harrington and his bevy of weapons did not need much time, and they were able to score a fourth touchdown with just 11 seconds remaining before halftime. Squalicum went into the locker room down 28-0.
The Storm came out in the third quarter and put together their best drive of the game led by quarterback, sophomore Grady Smith, who had replaced an injured Asher Asbjornsen. Junior wide receiver Mason Sone made a nice 18-yard reception and a Maddox Strickland 12-yard sweep took the ball to the Anacortes 6-yard line.
Unfortunately, the procedure penalties cropped up again which put the ball back on the 18. Trying to find an open receiver, Smith instead threw an interception snuffing out the scoring opportunity for the Storm.
Anacortes ran just seven plays in the third quarter, but two of them were touchdowns. The Seahawk lead stretched to 42-0 and the clock ran throughout the fourth quarter. One more Anacortes score put the final at 49-0, a tough pill to swallow for the Storm.
The Storm defense was led by junior linebacker Brock Scammell who finished with 6.5 tackles, one tackle for loss and a quarterback sack.
Now at 1-1 on the season, Squalicum will look to bounce back next week hosting the Burlington Edison Tigers.
Anacortes 49 Squalicum 0 ANA 21 7 14 7 - 49 SQU 0 0 0 0 - 0 ANA - 35 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ANA - 14 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ANA - 2 yard touchdown run (kick good) ANA - 16 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ANA - 14 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ANA - 24 yard touchdown run (kick good) ANA - 7 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ANA SQU 21-167 Rush Att-Yards 25-71 19-30-0 Comp-Att-Int 5-14-1 264 Passing Yards 54 Individual Leaders RUSHING - ANA: N/A. SQU: Hofstedt 12-47, Strickland 6-21, Calloway 1-3, Asbjornsen 3-2, Scammell 1-2, Ibarra 1-(-2), Smith 1-(-2). PASSING - ANA: N/A. SQU: Asbjornsen 2-3-0-17, Smith 3-11-1-37. RECEIVING - ANA: N/A. SQU: Sone 2-27, Larranaga 1-17, Scammell 1-8, Ibarra 1-2.
Leave a Reply